March 06, 2009
Marlon James's new novel The Book of Night Women is set on a Jamaican sugar plantation at the turn of the 19th century. It follows slave rebellion, but is also a coming-of-age story of Lilith, the enslaved daughter of the plantation's overseer. James talks to Kurt about the challenges of writing voices for nine different women.
"Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" is the latest in the saga of the gun-toting grandma played by Perry in drag. The movies are hugely popular, but are often panned in reviews. Two critics, Melissa Anderson and Armond White, explain why their colleagues are missing out. Produced by Trent Wolbe.
Alan Moore's ambitious graphic novel Watchmen wowed a generation of readers when it came out in 1986. Twenty-three years later, it's making its big-screen debut. Meanwhile, some of its key innovations have shown up in other movies; is the Watchmen too late to save itself? Produced by Eric Molinsky.
In Los Angeles, Kurt visits the J. Paul Getty Museum's conservation studio. Sue Ann Chui shows Kurt around the studio and describes what it takes to restore a 16th century Madonna and Child by the Bolognese painter Nosadella.
Stephen Byram has created album covers for everyone from the Beastie Boys to jazz great Dave Douglas. As a child of the 1960s, Byram became seduced by rock n' roll poster art. Produced by Rob Weisberg.
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Studio 360 is a co-production of
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National Endowment for the Arts, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Studio 360's American Icons series is supported in part by the
National Endowment for the Humanities. Our series on creativity and science is supported in part by the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Our series on Underground Heroes is supported in part by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. 
